Something to Sing About
by catchxfireflies
Summary: Rachel spends the summer getting to know a different side of Puck.
1. Chapter 1

Rachel slammed down a pile of folders on the lunch table dramatically, causing Tina's jello to fall promptly off its spoon and back onto her tray with a _plop_. She frowned. "Hey..."

Kurt tore his eyes away from his magazine and feigned interest as Rachel sucked in a breath. Mercedes just turned the volume up on her iPod and started texting.

"I'm over him. Finn. No, _really_ this time," she interrupted as Kurt opened his mouth to interject. "I know I've brought up this subject several times and on nearly--" Tina coughed. "--every one of those occasions, I've fallen back under the spell of his boyish good looks, innocent charm.. and big puppy dog eyes.. that smile that makes you feel like you're the only person in the entire world and he invented that smile just to make you happy..." She trailed off, staring off at nothing. Tina turned her head, trying to follow her gaze, as did Kurt, somewhat less curiously. Finally Mercedes nudged them, shaking her head and not even looking up from her phone as she continued to text.

"What's he done now?" Tina took another stab at her jello.

"More like who." Rachel's jaw tightened. Kurt let out a disgusted sound, attention back on his magazine.

Rachel sighed heavily and flopped down across from them, making Kurt, who had quickly started ignoring her again, jump. "In any case, I've come to the final, albeit difficult, conclusion that I must rid myself of negative influences in my life. Stress isn't good for my vocals. Or my blood pressure." She lifted her chin defiantly, half expecting at the very least looks of awe at her new-found maturity, but not one of them even lifted their heads.

She paused uncertainly. "I'm serious."

Silence.

"Fellow Glee clubbers!" She waved her hands in front of their faces, starting to think she had gone invisible. Which would, honestly, be a great tragedy for her future Broadway career. "Are you hearing me?"

Kurt exhaled, clearly exasperated, finally sparing her a glance. "As utterly _amazing_ as this.._ revelation_.. undoubtedly is... the fact is we've heard it before." Tina nodded in agreement, giving her a sympathetic look that she didn't buy for a second.

"For about 5 months straight," Kurt continued, closing his magazine and leaning forward onto his arms. "Over... and over." His face did that scary stare-through-your-soul thing.

"And over," Tina added.

"And over and over and over..." Mercedes mumbled.

Rachel's eyes widened. "I thought you weren't even _listening_..!"

"And over," was all the other girl said, not glancing up once.

"Every time things with the boy wonder don't work out." Kurt examined his nail beds. "You should have taken a leaf out of my book long ago and gotten yourself a new man. We're days away from summer vacation. Do something useful, brighten up that.. painfully chalky complexion--" Rachel lifted a hand to her face, frowning. "--and find a summer fling. Maybe then I won't think you're crying wolf. As it is... I'm not convinced."

Rachel huffed. She really _did_ mean it this time. Her head shot up suddenly. "How do you feel about a bonfire?" This finally got everyone's attention, including several people at another table she didn't even know. Gosh, MYOB.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Go _on_.."

-----

"What," Kurt said distastefully, picking up something in his (already) gloved hand and holding it away from his face like it was crawling with the plague, "is _this_? Is this a_ shoelace_?" The three of them had followed Rachel home to rid her room of all things Finn-- fuel for the bonfire, as it happened.

She turned from her closet and focused on Kurt's current concern. "Oh.. yes, from the bowling alley." Kurt's eyes widened impressively at her in horror before he dropped the object back on the bed, stepping away from it.

"You _stole_ a _shoelace_ from an _old used shoe_? Sweetie... you know they sell those just about anywhere. Brand new and everything."

"Finn took me bowling," she said meekly.

Kurt stared at her, incredulous expression frozen on his face.

"You are just.. so much worse off than I even thought. You don't have a lock of his hair anywhere around here, right?" He opened up a drawer cautiously as though Finn himself would jump out of it.

Quinn poked her head in the door. "Thought I heard you guys. What's going on... ?" She eyed the pile of what seemed to be miscellaneous junk steadily growing on Rachel's normally spotless bed. "A little late spring cleaning?"

"More like _Finn_ cleaning," Tina said brightly, fluttering past wearing one of Rachel's decorative Mardi Gras masks. Quinn nodded slowly, eyebrow raised. Mercedes stepped out of the closet holding a deep blue sweater. "This top is fantastic."

"Finn said it brought out my eyes," Rachel mumbled, looking away. "You can throw it out."

Everyone paused, staring.

".. Your eyes are _brown_. And Finn is a moron." Rachel smiled, knowing she didn't mean it, but Quinn had already grabbed the shirt from Mercedes and was holding it up to her torso. "And you're keeping this, because it actually is fantastic."

Kurt spoke up from where he was snooping in the dresser. "Which is rare for you. You should really let me pick out a new wardrobe."

Quinn rolled her eyes, dragging Rachel back to her closet to hang the sweater up. "You're not throwing out _clothes_ just because Finn _looked_ at them. All of this useless _crap_, however--"

"--like the _shoelace_--" Kurt threw in.

"--can go."

Quinn sifted through the pile -- folded notes, CDs, sheet music -- her eyebrows pulling together.

"What are you planning on doing with all of this, anyway?"

"Put a voodoo spell on it," Kurt smiled, hands on his hips. Quinn couldn't even tell if he was joking or not, and stared at him blankly. He sighed. "We're going to burn it," he said seriously.

"Burn it," she repeated.

"Mhmm."

"You can't even light an open fire like that within one mile of a city that has more than 10,000 people in its population."

They all blinked.

"What? Santana wanted to have a party once," she shrugged.

Tina groaned, bouncing as she collapsed on Rachel's bed. "I wanted to burn it."

Quinn's lips twitched. "She can just throw it out."

"That's hardly symbolic enough."

Mercedes turned. "Can we at least TP white boy's house?"

Quinn laughed, folding a leg under herself as she sat next to Tina. "No.. his mom was always nice to me, that's not fair to her."

"We could fill his locker with orange juice and marshmallows."

Rachel turned to stare at Tina.

"My cousin Kaitlin did that when her boyfriend cheated on her."

She tilted her head, actually considering. It was immature beyond belief, sure, but it _would _make her feel a little better. "We'd take out all of his stuff first, right?"

"Well, er, not traditionally, but--"

Rachel's gaze drifted over to Quinn, who had already embraced the plan and had her phone out. "What're you doing?"

"Texting Puck."

"What? _Why_?"

"Because Brittany's babysitting, Santana's tanning, Matt never answers his phone, Mike has SAT prep right now, and Artie's a parapalegic." She said in one breath, still typing. "Plus, I'm sure Puck can break into the school."

"... Oh."

_**teaching hudson a lesson. u game?**_

Quinn had hardly pressed send when the reply came.

_**be there in 10**_


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't do this," Rachel sighed regretfully, wincing when her voice rebounded off of the empty hall walls. She stared into Finn's open locker (the fact that Quinn still had his combination memorized was something else entirely), orange juice jug heavy in her hand.

The five of them (Mercedes had said something about not having any cash for 'bail money' and _booked it, _but Kurt said she just didn't want to miss ANTM.. which he had Tivo-ed.. Puck didn't have any clue what this meant, and didn't ask) stood in the middle of the main hall at McKinley, an unseemingly large pile of marshmallow bags to their left. To say the cashier at the Quik-Stop had given them an odd look for their purchases would be the absolute understatement of the century. Rachel had wondered for 5 straight minutes if there was anything illegal someone could make out of marshmallows and orange juice that would bring them unecessary suspicion. The middle aged man at the counter seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as he rang up their purchases and Tina babbled on about some marshmallow _cassarole_ she had to make for her grandmother in an attempt to distract him. WTF?

Puck rolled his eyes, not surprised in the least at Rachel's hesitance, and muttered something about a lack of commitment. The blonde next to him elbowed him-- _hard_-- in the ribs, flashing him a patented Quinn Fabray death glare before sidling up to the brunette. Puck wondered for the millionth time _why he was here _before Finn's last words to him crashed through his head like a fucking broken record. He turned his attention back to the present, his motivation freshly back in place.

"If you don't, I will," Quinn was informing Rachel, indicating the orange juice in her hand.

Rachel fought back a smile. "No, you won't. You still have feelings for him," she lowered her voice. Puck heard anyway, and repressed a disgusted snort.

Quinn pursed her lips, not responding and actually kind of glaring at her (it was amazing how one look from the girl still made her feel inadequate), but that certainly wasn't a contradiction as far as Rachel was concerned. The former head Cheerio's hands moved to her middle, hovering uncertainly in the air before resting on her flat stomach. She still did that sometimes, almost as if she was still expecting to come in contact with a pregnant belly. Puck stared at Quinn's hands, his expression unreadable.

Rachel smiled sadly. She was being so selfish. The two people next to her had more reason to do this to Finn than she did, even if they had been in the wrong from the start. It's not like he had been her boyfriend.

_This time_, she amended silently.

Kurt adjusted his oversized sunglasses (they were inside and it was after dark) and rounded on her. "That's not the issue here. The _issue_ is that Finn Hudson has become a complete and utter _manwhore_." His gaze flickered to Puck, who smirked knowingly, looking down the darkened hall. Quinn shifted uncomfortably.

"And honestly, we're all quite tired of it. Also, I didn't spend 2 and a half hours picking out the perfect B&E outfit for nothing.." he admired himself for a moment before reverting to serious mode. ".. so something covert better happen, stat." He folded his arms over his meticulously dressed torso, looking every bit like a cat burglar on the runway.

Tina sat on the floor by the fire extinguisher , twirling her cell phone in her hands. "Y-Yeah, I'm missing a rerun of 30 Rock. And being in school after hours gives me _hives_." The girl suddenly flushed with shame as she realized her old fake stutter had accidentally come out.

"What'd Hudson even do to kickstart this?" Puck muttered, making Rachel glance up in surprise. Why was he here if he didn't even _know_?

"Hailey Thorton," Quinn responded automatically, her face motionless. If anyone had looked close enough they would have seen her eyes flicker to the spot on the locker door where Finn had once kept a picture of the two of them. It wasn't there.

Puck scratched the back of his neck, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, "Jesus fucking _Christ_, Hudson," as he recalled how sickeningly couple-y his former best friend had been acting with Berry recently. Until he apparently went and screwed some skank (been there, done that freshman year, by the way) _again_. Not like he was the poster boy for fidelity or anything, but the kid was in serious need of some tact.

Puck's less than savory reputation had preceded him since middle school, but he had never strung a girl along for nearly as long as Finn had seemed to do with Berry, and it was to the point where even _he_ thought it was ridiculous. Instead of being irritatingly over confident like usual, she constantly looked like a kicked puppy, and it was getting on his _nerves_. Not to mention the way Quinn seemed to be trying to convince _herself_ he wasn't worth it every time she assured Rachel. It was always about fucking Finn Hudson.

_Women._

Not to mention this new _thing_ they were doing_-- _the _friends _thing-- was weirding him out. Quinn, however, was determined to latch on to the few potential friends she appeared to still have.. even if they had once impregnated her. Apparently getting knocked up by your boyfriend's best friend quickly earned one a sort of 'slutty pariah' status.

His eyebrows pulled together. Rachel Berry and her stupid vocabulary were rubbing off on him.

Rachel glanced around at them. Puck was staring at the ceiling, arms folded, looking characteristically grumpy, Quinn was boring a hole in the side of her head with her eyes as she waited expectantly, and Kurt was trying to smack marshmallows (which she was now eating) out of Tina's hand.

Finally Quinn huffed out a breath. "Let's just go."  
"What?"  
"You're obviously not willing to stoop this low. Which is.. commendable, in a super sickening way."  
"But what about--"  
"We'll burn your freaking crap on his front lawn or something, let's just get out of here before the night janitor shows up," the blonde mumbled. She shot Puck a look like she just _knew_ he was about to say something nasty about being dragged all the way here for nothing, and his mouth snapped shut. Scary bitch.

-----

"Huh." Rachel had been quiet most of the ride home, and Puck glanced in the rearview mirror to look at her, her face half hidden in shadow.

"What?" Quinn asked from the front passenger seat, not sounding very interested. Rachel didn't respond right away, staring out the small back window of Puck's truck. ".. _What_?"

Puck felt a flash of annoyance at Quinn's sharp tone, but Rachel smiled, used to the other girl's mood swings. "I was just.. reflecting." Puck turned onto their street, and Quinn twisted around to look at her. Rachel was resting her chin on the back of Quinn's headrest.

"Kinda wish I'd done it now."

Puck snorted. Quinn just smacked a hand to her own forehead. "You've _got_ to be kidding me.."

"I mean, he probably _does_ deserve it, considering--"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Puck as the car came to a stop in the driveway. The light Rachel had insisted on turning on before they left shined a mite too brightly, emphasizing the rest of the house's blatant darkness. Quinn sighed, slipping out and mouthing her thanks.

"Thank you, Noah," Rachel said quietly, following the other girl. She waved goodbye somewhat unenthusiastically, squinting into the headlights. Puck's fingers curled over the steering wheel tightly as the two entered the empty house.

-----

"Did you steal my hair dryer again?" Quinn padded into Rachel's room, freshly showered and grumpy as she looked around.  
"Hmm? Oh.. yeah," Rachel mumbled sheepishly, gesturing to the top of her dresser. The other girl eyed her friend sprawled on the bed through the mirror. "Are you going to mope for a week again? Because I honestly don't think I can do that again."  
"_No_."  
"Uh huh," Quinn nodded, not sounding convinced as she brushed through her wet hair. "When're your dads home?"

"Last day of school," Rachel sighed. Quinn frowned. "They're missing the invitational?"

She nodded glumly. The blonde sighed. The Berrys had been _beyond_ generous to her-- and her (previously) unborn child-- but sometimes she wondered if they knew how alone Rachel felt whenever they went away on business-- which was far too often. She hid it well, but not well enough. More than once Quinn had guiltily wondered how many nights she had spent alone in this huge house, only to go to school every day to be ridiculed. For some reason, the way Rachel had talked (constantly, the only way she ever talked) about her parents had given Quinn the impression that there was always someone to come home and whine to.

The reality was a sharp contrast to the near constant presence of her own parents, but even _that_, Quinn thought dully, left something to be desired. She changed the subject.

"Don't worry about that fucktard," Quinn said without malice. "We'll spend the summer becoming tanner.. and, uh, more well rounded individuals, and if he's not too busy contracting venereal diseases, he'll regret letting us go and shit."

Rachel hummed her approval, amused. "Maybe," she murmured, staring up at her ceiling.

-----

"With Finn Hudson, really?"  
"I thought he was dating that Rachel girl--"  
"Ew, why would he, she's grotesque--"  
"Yeah, but they're always like, hanging out and stuff.."  
"She probably stalks him because they're both in that.. show tunes club, or whatever.."

Rachel bit down hard on her tongue as she sat in the bathroom stall the next morning, waiting for them to just LEAVE before she did something stupid like try to confront them and end up snapping their necks.

"She hangs all over all the guys in that stupid thing, but it's no surprise, really, when she's friends with a total slut like Quinn Fabr--"

Rachel opened the door to her stall with unnecessary force, making the little circle of girls (JV Cheerios-- _typical_) jump at the noise. One turned red when she saw who it was, and another merely smirked.

She walked slowly and deliberately over to the sink, beginning to wash her hands with extra care as they watched her in silence. If they thought she was going to hurry out in a fit of shame, they were sorely mistaken. Rachel Berry was no chicken. She purposely took _forever _drying her hands under the warm blast of air from the machine on the wall, whistling loudly.

_Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you very very much..._

She examined her reflection carefully, pulling out her lip gloss, _daring_ them to say something. _One more word today, I swear to god, and I can not be held personally responsible for any deaths that may occur._

Just as one of the mini Cheerios opened her mouth, the bathroom door swung open, admitting Santana and Brittany, decked out in their usual red and white. Rachel's stomach churned. This was _so_ not what she needed right now.

"Scram, midgets." Santana's eyes flicked to Rachel and then back to the haughty faces of the underclassmen.

"Like I have to listen to _you_--"

Rachel had never wanted to tear out someone's extensions so badly in her _life_.

"She said scram," Rachel barked, finally speaking up. Brittany stared at her with wide eyes. Santana focused at a spot on the wall. The JVs looked rather offended, but stalked out of the bathroom, muttering something about diva bitches.

"Hey, B," Santana began, but Rachel shook her head. "Not.. today, San. Okay?" Santana bit her lip, but nodded slowly. It was bizarre not to see her on the offensive, or more accurately, _going for the throat_, but she had recently switched gears when it came to Rachel, which the other girl appreciated, even if she didn't necessarily welcome it.

Brittany smiled brightly, seemingly oblivious. "See you at Glee tomorrow, Rachel."  
The brunette forced her mouth to turn up into what she was almost sure looked more like a grimace than anything. "Sure, Brittany. See you around." She struggled to keep her tone light as she swept past Santana out the door.

Brittany's smile dropped immediately.

"She's probably not going to forgive you," she told Santana grimly, who clenched her jaw.  
"Right. Whatever," she snapped at the blonde, storming out after Rachel.

-----

_Why. Am. I. Such. A. Stupid. Moron._

Rachel slammed her books into her locker one at a time, stiffening automatically (damn her impeccable hearing) when she heard Finn's voice across the hall.

"What the fu--"

Rachel whirled around despite herself, mouth falling open in shock as Finn stumbled back, knocking into a freshman ("_Ow_..!") and staring at his locker like he couldn't quite figure out what the hell was going on. A goopy vomit colored substance oozed out of it onto his sneakers, and Rachel's eyes bulged in realization.

_Who..._

She heard a low chuckle, turning slowly and catching Puck's eye from down the hall. He flashed her an innocent smile, which fit his face _not at all_. Her surprise disappeared almost immediately.

_Of _course_._

She wanted to glare at his intense immaturity, wanted to walk up and tell him he was ridiculous (a bit hypocritical considering she had been the one standing over Finn's locker with a gallon of orange juice not 10 hours prior). But she couldn't help the slow smile that crept over her face as she shook her head. _Unbelievable._

Before she could stop it a bark of laughter had escaped from her lips, which unfortunately Finn himself noticed. He turned, meeting her eyes, and her smile died at the hurt look on his face. She almost-- _almost_-- went over to apologize, until she remembered.

_"I mean.. it's not like we were ever really together, Rach."_

She ground her teeth together as the memory cut through her. Right. They were never _really_ together, not in _his_ eyes. _Not even close, Rachel._

So she tore her gaze away from his, shut her locker, and walked purposefully in the other direction (like the star she _was_, thank you very much), bag rolling behind her. Puck gave her a nod as she passed, but all she could manage in response was an amused sigh. He grinned.

Boys were so goddamn weird.

------

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews wanting me to continue! Warms my cold dead heart. I hope you like this chapter, I'm still not 100% on what's going to happen, just have a general outline. Feedback, good or bad, is appreciated. :D**

**I promise you'll find out more as it goes on (the deal with Drizzle, Santana, etc). Call me crazy, but I'm into exposition as I go.**

**The song Rachel is whistling in the bathroom, btw, is Fuck You by Lily Allen. XD Which is actually really catchy.**


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